


Character

by EbonyLyre



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Minor Character Death, Tragedy, Translation included
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28976898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EbonyLyre/pseuds/EbonyLyre
Summary: Self-aware | self-con•scious | self-righ•tious | self-cen•tered | self•ish
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	Character

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Infant](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1347889) by [Boomchick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boomchick/pseuds/Boomchick). 



> Self-aware: having conscious knowledge of one's own character and feelings.  
> Self-conscious: (especially of an action or intention) deliberate and with full awareness, especially affectedly so.  
> Self-righteous: having or characterized by a certainty, especially an unfounded one, that one is totally correct or morally superior.  
> Self-centered: preoccupied with oneself and one's affairs.  
> Selfish: lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure.
> 
> Thanks to [Oxford **Languages**](https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/)

1.

“Sephiroth is not a failure!”

“You yourself reported that the Ancient’s daughter-”

“Sephiroth’s talents lie elsewhere. You’ve seen his intelligence, his strength.”

“...The President has recently become interested in creating a peacekeeping force for protecting Shinra’s interests.”

“...”

“I can arrange an instructor for Sephiroth.”

“...Thank you, Veld.”

“Think nothing of it, Professor.”

2.

Sephiroth tenses a little when he sees a lab assistant waiting outside his door. The man looks up from his PHS, nods, and starts walking away. The silver-haired boy follows.

Sephiroth’s nose twitches at the scent of blood and bleach as he tails the assistant down an unfamiliar hallway. That detail flies out of his head though when he sees Hojo standing by a set of doors that double as a wall. The scientist’s right hand holds a sword, and his left holds a bangle equipped with a single materia.

“Professor,” the lab assistant greets respectfully.

“Go check the cameras,” Hojo replies. He turns to Sephiroth. “There’s a monster behind the door. Kill it before it kills you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hojo thrusts the bangle and the sword at Sephiroth before walking away at a brisk pace, presumably to a nearby observation area.

The silver-haired boy quickly slides the bangle onto his upper arm and checks the materia. A gentle probe reveals it’s an nascent fire orb. He then hefts the sword to check its balance before inspecting it for flaws.

The door opens, doubling the stench of bodily fluids and sterilization chemicals. Sephiroth forces himself to ignore the miasma, stepping inside the room so he can examine its layout and whatever it is he’s supposed to kill. His lips thin a little in response to the lighting: six huge overhead lamps create six corresponding circles of light that plunge everywhere else into darkness.

The thump of the door closing is almost enough to conceal the sound of a series of clicks against the floor. Sephiroth moves towards it cautiously, knowing better than to test Hojo’s patience. He hopes his alert demeanor conceals his fear; it’s his first time fighting instead of sparring, and it sounds like his opponent is a monster.

 _Fire first_ , Sephiroth decides. _I’ll use my sword only if it closes the distance._

3.

The silver-haired boy opens his door and greets the assistant waiting outside with a curt nod.

 _Monster or machine today? Or both?_ Sephiroth wonders as he follows the assistant to the testing room. He’s already checked his sword and materia before opening the door, but probes the four orbs equipped into his banged once more. He’ll check his sword again too once he draws it outside of the testing room.

Sephiroth freezes for a microsecond at the sight of Hojo standing outside the room. The scientist had only ever briefed his prized specimen twice. The first time was to tell Sephiroth to kill. The second time was to inform the silver-haired boy that he should “keep his distance” before sending him in to fight a tonberry. Sephiroth forces his face to remain expressionless as he wonders what unpleasantness the scientist might have dreamt up this time.

“Your opponent’s Wutaian,” Hojo says the minute he sees Sephiroth. “Kill him before he kills you,” the scientist adds as he strides away.

 _Him? Are monsters from Wutai referred to as “him” instead of “it”?_ Sephiroth wonders as the door opens.

The space is lit evenly today, so Sephiroth immediately spots the man in the middle of the room. The stranger jumps to his feet and draws out his sword, settling into a battle-ready stance. Then the stranger’s eyes widen and the point of his sword wavers.

“你是谁？”

Sephiroth blinks. Before he can explain he doesn’t speak Wutaian, an unfamiliar voice replies through the speakers.

“他是您的对手。”

Sephiroth watches as the man pales.

“他是个小孩！” the man yells towards the speakers. He doesn’t re-sheath his sword, but it’s now held loosely in his hand right hand as his left points towards Sephiroth.

“所以他比您儿子和妻子重要？”

The man’s face reddens. “你们- 你们是人吗？！我怎么- 我是侠士不是-！你们不能逼我伤害个孩子！”

There’s a brief burst of static, then Hojo’s voice sounds from the speakers. “Kill him,” the scientist orders. Sephiroth’s eyes widen, but he draws his sword and readies his materia.

The stranger turns to him, horrified. “你-” He looks wildly between Sephiroth and the speakers. “这-” He faces Sephiroth fully, left hand outstretched. Sephiroth notes the stranger has yet to left go of the sword in his right. “孩子，不要这样。我不想害你。你放下你的武器我就放下我的。让他们换个人——你不必白死！”

Sephiroth attempts to discern the man’s intentions through his body language, but Hojo’s voice rings out again. “Move it!” he snaps. “Or I’ll make you wish you were never born!” Reflexively, Sephiroth settles into his preferred stance as the other voice speaks up again.

“曾先生，这是您最后一次机会。您的命运已定，可是如果您赢您孩子和妻子就可以回五台。”

The stranger’s gaze, which had shifted towards the speaker, turns back to Sephiroth and looks over the boy’s battle-ready posture. He bows his head. Even with his enhanced senses Sephiroth’s barely hears the man whisper: “上天原谅我。” Then the stranger looks Sephiroth in the eye, bows and says: “对不起。”

The world freezes for a heartbeat, then explodes into action.

The stranger leaps towards Sephiroth, who barely manages to dodge.

 _How is he so fast?_ the boy wonders. He casts a Fira, hoping to intimidate his opponent.

Instead, the stranger dives through the flames, using a shimmering barrier to hold the heat at bay. Sephiroth immediately dodges again, casting Blizzaga around the barrier to slow the stranger down. His opponent reacts by charging sword-point first, breaking through the rapidly forming sheet of ice before it can thicken. This time, the stranger doesn’t attempt to close the gap between him and Sephiroth; he settles into a defensive stance, eyeing Sephiroth with wariness and a touch of respect.

The silver-haired boy sinks into his own defensive stance and ponders his next move. Judging by the stranger’s body language, he initially protested fighting Sephiroth. However, something the mystery voice said must have changed the man’s mind, because he’d attacked with the intent to kill; had Sephiroth not moved, his throat would no longer be intact. _Very well._ Sephiroth’s eyes narrow as he creates a new category in his mind: under “humans” there is now “scientists”, “instructors” and “Wutaians”. “Wutaians” physically resemble humans, but act like monsters and machines.

Sephiroth begins to catalogue his enemy’s strengths and weaknesses the way he would with any beast or robot. The man had countered his Fira with magic but used a sword to break the ice that formed due to Blizzaga. That suggests the man cast a Manaward, not a Manawall. Given the man’s speed, he could have been using Haste, but that’s the weakest of the three Time materia spells, so it’s possible the man can’t cast Slow or Stop. Finally, Sephiroth knows from his instructors that while his physical strength and mana reserves are remarkable for a child, they are well within the norm for a trained adult. Therefore, Sephiroth will have to rely on speed and trickery to best this opponent.

Sephiroth lets his sword wobble a little. His enemy immediately takes a half-step forward. Sephiroth counters with a half-step back, which prompts his opponent to press his advantage by advancing again. Sephiroth immediately casts a Blizzard. When that doesn’t slow his opponent, he casts a Fire and jumps out of the way. When his enemy refuses to break off, Sephiroth casts a weak Thunder and lets his sword waver a little more as he retreats. A blue barrier shimmers steadily around his enemy, whose stance loosens a little as he becomes confident of his victory.

 _Perfect_ , Sephiroth thinks and jumps. He soars over his opponent and twists in mid-air so he’ll land facing man. Sephiroth’s feet have barely touched the ground before he lunges forward and stabs his sword through his enemy’s Manaward, then through flesh and bone. To his credit, the man reacted in time to turn around. However, his sword followed a hair too late and clangs off Sephiroth’s steel instead of knocking its point away.

“不，” the man whispers, horrified. He clasps the handle of his sword with both hands and tries to swing it.

Sephiroth leaps back inadvertently pulling his sword out. His enemy collapses as blood begins to gush forth.

“不！” the man cries weakly. Tears begin to roll down his cheeks. “李娜、曾致嘉...对不...”

Swphiroth stares, trying to process what he’s seeing. The monsters he’d fought bellowed in anger and screeched in pain. None cried or tried to speak with their last breath... The silver-haired boy flinches as the speaker hisses.

There’s a pause--long enough to become pointed--before Hojo speaks. “Take his materia and practice with it. Finish faster next time.”

4.

Sephiroth makes sure his face is perfectly neutral when he speaks with Hojo the next day. “May I have a few books to teach myself Wutaian?”

The scientist eyes him. “You don’t need to know what those superstitious Woos are saying.”

Sephiroth forces himself to nod respectfully. “Not if I’m fighting one-on-one. But hostilities with Wutai may escalate to war. If I am sent to Wutai to fight, then according to my strategy books I will need to be able to interact with spies and gauge enemy capabilities. Being able to understand my enemy’s language would help greatly with both.”

Hojo’s lips curl with distaste, but he doesn’t immediately dismiss the idea. “Go eat your lunch.”

***

Three days later, an assistant carries a stack of books and case of tapes into Sephiroth’s room. “Professor Hojo wants to know when you’re done with them,” the woman says. “He also warns that if your other studies suffer in any way, these will be taken away.”

Sephiroth nods, and the woman leaves.

***

It doesn’t take long for Sephiroth to memorize a decent number of characters or the rules for fitting them together. He puts his knowledge to work by completing his homework in Wutaian before rewriting them in Common. Listening is difficult: it’s hard to tell which differences in inflection and intonation are standard and which are the result of accents or personal tics when his only examples are two people reading off of scripts. Speaking is even harder since he has no one to speak with, and doesn’t want to record over any of his tapes. He makes sure he's wrung every bit of information from the books and tapes before informing Hojo he’s done.

To Sephiroth’s surprise, Hojo doesn’t take away the materials. Instead, a man in a blue suit shows up outside the child’s room the next day. The moment he starts talking, Sephiroth recognizes him as the mystery voice he’d heard through the speaker.

“Professor Hojo asked me to test your proficiency,” the man says. “Is there somewhere you’d prefer to go?”

Sephiroth nods. Most of his instructors ask a lot of questions, particularly the first time they converse with him. “Could we go to the kitchen?” He’ll have easy access to water there.

The man nods. “Lead the way.”

Once Sephiroth is seated with his books and a full glass, the man hands over a flyer written in Wutaian. “Read that.”

“I know what it means,” Sephiroth offers cautiously, “but the tapes didn’t really help me with my pronunciation.”

Oddly, his instructor doesn’t frown or sneer. “How come?”

Sephiroth tries to answer with confidence. “Both speakers’ pronunciation sometimes deviated from the phonetic symbols used in the dictionary. The two speakers also differed from each other sometimes, when pronouncing the same words.”

His evaluator looks at him for a long moment before blinking. “Interesting,” he half-mutters. “Most learners don’t realize the speakers are from different regions and neither is using their native dialect. Show me what you’ve learned. If you’re good, I’ll speak to Hojo about tutoring you.”

***

Mindful of Hojo’s eyes and ears, Sephiroth never asks his tutor what the Wutaian man said that day in the testing room. Instead the boy carefully preserves the memory and waits until he’s confident of his listening ability before reliving the scene.

> “你是谁？”
> 
> {Who are you?}
> 
> “他是您的对手。”
> 
> {He’s your opponent.}
> 
> “他是个小孩！”
> 
> {He’s a child!}
> 
> “所以他比您儿子和妻子重要？”
> 
> {Does that make him more important to you than your son and wife?}
> 
> “你们- 你们是人吗？！我怎么- 我是侠士不是-！你们不能逼我伤害个孩子！”
> 
> {You-! Are you even humans? How can I- I’m a warrior, not a-! You can’t force me to harm a child!}
> 
> “你-”
> 
> {You-}
> 
> “这-”
> 
> {This-}
> 
> “孩子，不要这样。我不想害你。你放下你的武器我就放下我的。让他们换个人——你不必白死！”
> 
> {Child, don’t do this. I don’t want to hurt you. If you drop your weapon, I’ll drop mine. Let them send someone else--you don’t need to throw away your life!}
> 
> “曾先生，这是您最后一次机会。您的命运已定，可是如果您赢您孩子和妻子就可以回五台。”
> 
> {Mr. Tseng, this is your last chance. Your life is forfeit, but if you win, we will let your child and wife return to Wutai.}
> 
> “上天原谅我。”
> 
> {May the heavens forgive me.}
> 
> “对不起。”
> 
> {I’m sorry.}
> 
> “不。” 
> 
> {No.}
> 
> “不！”
> 
> {No!}
> 
> “李娜、曾致嘉...对不...”
> 
> {Lei No, Tseng Zigaa...I’m sorry...}

Sephiroth wipes his eyes and slowly evens out his breath.

_He didn’t want to hurt me._

_He attacked me!_

_He was trying to protect his family._

_It was him or me!_

_Did my mother ever try to protect me? My father?_

_I want to live..._

_How many more Mr. Tsengs will I have to kill?_

_I don’t want to die!_

_What if Hojo ordered me to kill his wife? Or his son?_

_I don’t want to die..._

Sephiroth thinks back to Mr. Tseng’s prayer.

_If the heavens can forgive Mr. Tseng for killing a child, surely they can forgive a child for killing to survive?_

His fists press against his aching chest as he recalls the way Mr. Tseng said his son’s name.

_Maybe...someday...I’ll have a family of my own to fight for...when I’m strong defend them._

5.

The door to the testing room opens and Sephiroth steps inside. The space is evenly lit today, so he immediately sees the young woman kneeling in the middle of the room. The pre-teen is careful to not let his gait stutter as he approaches and sees that the woman is blindfolded and has her hands tied together behind her back.

“She’s a spy from Wutai,” Hojo says through the speakers. “Find out what she knows without damaging her too much. I’ve an experiment in mind.”

“What have the Turks uncovered?” Sephiroth asks, keeping his tone mild.

“Nothing,” Hojo snaps. “Sai died two weeks ago.”

 _That explains why he hasn’t been showing up_ , Sephiroth thinks. _Not that I ever wanted to talk to him again after I realized what he did._

The prisoner’s head rises as Sephiroth stops directly before her. Sephiroth reaches down and gently removes her blindfold. The prisoner blinks rapidly, then squints to look at Sephiroth. Like Mr. Tseng, her eyes widen in response to his youthful appearance.

“您是谁？”

{Who are you?}

The woman gasps. “你会说五台话？可是你-”

{You speak Wutaian? But you-}

“我的背景不重要。重要的是您从神罗公司偷了什么信息。”

{My background is not what’s important. What’s important is the information you stole from Shinra.}

“信息？！我没有偷信息！我-”

“What did she say?” Hojo interrupts.

Sephiroth turns towards the speaker. “She says she didn’t steal any information.”

“Lies. She was caught in a restricted zone.”

The pre-teen turns back to the prisoner. “您为什么前进了神罗公司的禁区？”

{Why did you enter Shinra’s restricted area?}

Fear flashes across the young woman’s face. “我不是为了偷信息！我只是想要一朵花！它们离铁丝网很近可是我就是够不到，所以我翻了进来。我刚准备走就看见两位穿一身蓝的人奔向我。他们便冲我吼边挥他们的武器！我立马就投降了可是他们还是把我按到地上然后把我的手捆起来。”

Sephiroth nods then turns towards the speaker. “Did she have a flower when the Turks caught her?”

“Yes,” Hojo answers impatiently. “One of the ones from that patch by the Ancients’ exercise area. Ask her who she was going to give the flower to!”

Sephiroth’s stomach plummets. He believes the young woman meant no harm when she climbed over the restricted zone’s fence to pick a flower, but there’s no way Hojo, the Turks, or the President will. All three are intensely possessive of ‘the Ancients’; whatever or whoever they are, they’re extremely valuable and had already been stolen once before. The pre-teen pulls his sword slightly out of its scabbard to buy himself a second to get his voice under control. The young woman flinches and a whimper escapes her.

“Pathetic,” Hojo sneers.

Sephiroth closes his eyes briefly to rein in his temper. “我相信您没有想害神罗，” he says when he opens his eyes again. “可是神罗的的总统肯定不会。您进入的区是个很重要的区。那里的一切——包括那里的花——都是公司机密。”

{I believe you meant Shinra no harm, but the President never will. You trespassed on an incredibly important area. Everything there, including the flowers, are part of the company’s secrets.}

The young woman’s eyes remain riveted to the steel of Sephiroth’s sword. “那我怎么样？” Tears begin to roll down her cheeks. “难道神罗要把我关起来，直到五台投降？”

{Then what will happen to me? Is Shinra going to lock me up until Wutai surrenders?}

Sephiroth fights to keep his voice cold instead of compassionate. “如果您真的想多活一天您可以。可是您会变成通过音响说话那位的试验品。他的试验品一般寿命不长，活的生不如死。”

{If you really want to live another day, you can. But the man you hear through the speaker will take you to his laboratory and experiment on you. Most of his subjects don’t live long; those who do beg for death.}

The young woman lets out a sob. “我只是想要一朵花。我求您了，救救我！”

{I only wanted a flower. I’m begging you, save me!}

 _I can’t even save myself._ “我只能给您个选择，而且您要快选：是死的快还是活的赖？”

{I can only give you a choice, and you need to decide quickly. Die swiftly or live miserably?}

The young woman looks at Sephiroth and must see the truth in his eyes because she lets out a louder sob as she collapses on herself.

“Answer me!” Sephiroth demands, injecting anger into his voice.

The woman’s head whips up and she flinches so hard she nearly topples over.

“快给我个答案！”

{Give me an answer, quick!} Sephiroth repeats sounding utterly unyielding. He draws his sword out a little more.

The woman’s face crumples, but she looks at the blade and gives the faintest of nods.

Sephiroth barely holds in his sigh of relief. “我需要您和我配合一下。您最讨厌什么？”

{I need your cooperation. What do you most despise?}

The young woman frowns. “最讨厌什么？”

{Despise?}

“狗屎？呕吐？色狼？”

{Dog shit? Vomit? Perverts?} As he speaks, the woman’s expression becomes increasingly disgusted and angry. _Perfect._

“你什么意思！有必要在我最后几分钟提起这样的事情吗？”

{What’s your problem! Do you have to bring up these sorts of things in my last minutes?}

Sephiroth hurries to reply before misery overtakes her face again. “我需要您向我吐一口痰然后大声说‘我宁死也不向神罗低头！’”

{I need you to spit at me, then loudly say, ‘I’d sooner die than bow to Shinra!’}

The woman’s eyes widen before they blaze. If Sephiroth didn’t know better, he would have sworn she’s been injected with mako. Anger contorts her face as she draws in a deep breath and spits at his face. “神罗狗，我-”

{Shinra dog, I-}

The swing of Sephiroth’s sword cuts her sentence short.

Feedback squeals through the speaker before Hojo makes his voice heard. “Explain yourself, Sephiroth!”

“She claims she just wanted to give a flower to her sweetheart,” the pre-teen replies calmly. He pulls a rag out from his pocket and begins to wipe his blade. “But I pointed out an inconsistency in her story. She tried to invent another lie to cover up her initial mistake but her embellishments only grew more outlandish. Once it became clear I would eventually figure out the truth, she became very angry.” Here he uses his sword to point towards the spittle on the ground. “She told me she’d never betray Wutai before spitting at me and calling me a dog. I saw no reason to let the rabid creature continue living.”

The room is utterly silent but for the sound of Sephiroth re-sheathing his sword.

“The Turks will not be pleased,” Hojo remarks.

“They shouldn’t have been careless with their translator.”

Hojo cackles. “True enough! Veld should have known better than to barge in and make demands. In fact, I think my hand shall _slip_. Leave now so I can at least feed my Bloodhounds. I’ll tell Veld an idiot assistant of mine let them into the room to intimidate the woman and didn’t know the dogs are carnivorous and kept hungry. Veld will be suspicious, but he’ll never be able to prove otherwise without the surveillance tapes I’m about to ‘lose’.”

Sephiroth forces himself to stroll towards the door at his usual pace. “Will the Turks be able to find me another tutor?” he asks idly.

“I’ll talk to the President,” Hojo replies. “In fact I think you’re ready for an immersion program.”

“Thank you,” Sephiroth says before exiting the testing room.

 _Please let the battlefield be better_ , he prays. _Let there only be soldiers, those who have volunteered to die._

The next morning, he’s ordered to pack his bags for a long trip into enemy territory.

**Author's Note:**

> According to FF7’s wikia, Wutai is primarily based on Japan and China. As such, I decided to exercise my passable Chinese rather than inflicting Google-translated Japanese on you, dear reader ^_~
> 
> (Story-wise, I’m pretending Japanese and Chinese refer to different dialects of the same written language, à la Cantonese and Mandarin.)


End file.
